Then she seated herself on the edge of the drawer, and thought that
perhaps one of the flowers would ask her to dance; but none of them came.
Then she coughed, “Hem, hem, a-hem;” but for all that not one came. The
shabby doll now danced quite alone, and not very badly, after all. As none
of the flowers seemed to notice Sophy, she let herself down from the drawer
to the floor, so as to make a very great noise. All the flowers came round
her directly, and asked if she had hurt herself, especially those who had lain
in her bed. But she was not hurt at all, and Ida’s flowers thanked her for the
use of the nice bed, and were very kind to her. They led her into the middle
of the room, where the moon shone, and danced with her, while all the other
flowers formed a circle round them. Then Sophy was very happy, and said
they might keep her bed; she did not mind lying in the drawer at all. But the
flowers thanked her very much, and said,-
“We cannot live long. To-morrow morning we shall be quite dead; and
you must tell little Ida to bury us in the garden, near to the grave of the
canary; then, in the summer we shall wake up and be more beautiful than
ever.”
“No, you must not die,” said Sophy, as she kissed the flowers.
Then the door of the room opened, and a number of beautiful flowers
danced in. Ida could not imagine where they could come from, unless they
were the flowers from the king’s garden. First came two lovely roses, with
little golden crowns on their heads; these were the king and queen.
Beautiful stocks and carnations followed, bowing to every one present.
They had also music with them. Large poppies and peonies had pea-shells
for instruments, and blew into them till they were quite red in the face. The
bunches of blue hyacinths and the little white snowdrops jingled their bell-
like flowers, as if they were real bells. Then came many more flowers: blue
violets, purple heart’s-ease, daisies, and lilies of the valley, and they all
danced together, and kissed each other. It was very beautiful to behold.
At last the flowers wished each other good-night. Then little Ida crept
back into her bed again, and dreamt of all she had seen. When she arose the
next morning, she went quickly to the little table, to see if the flowers were
